Frequently Asked Questions
regarding the
Where is the Money? Petition

 

  1. What are "adjustments" and "unsupported accounting entries"?
  2. What is wrong with unsupported adjustments?
  3. What happens when a company fails an audit?
  4. What happens when a taxpayer fails an IRS audit?
  5. Why is the US government not held to the same standard?
  6. Who is responsible?
  7. Why zero in on DoD, HUD, and Treasury ... what about the others?
  8. Is this figure the total to-date, or all from the one year reported?
  9. Why assume it's stolen ... couldn't this be legitimate accounting errors?
  10. How can we be missing more than the total budget?
  11. Why get alarmed now … hasn't this been going on for ages?
  12. There are big problems everywhere I turn … why focus on this one?
  13. What does this have to do with me and my family?
  14. How can we stop it?
  15. Can we get the money back?

We welcome your input:

  • If you have other questions, please visit the FAQ Topic on our Forum to post your thoughts; browse the Forum Index there to see what others are doing

  • If you have an accounting, auditing, or legal background and would like to research or prepare answers and examples, please check out the 10 Hour Project Topic on our Forum

New Visit Who's in Charge of the Missing Money? to see who was entrusted with the missing $trillions ...


  1. What are “adjustments” and “unsupported accounting entries”?
  2. "Unsupported accounting entries" are the adjustments made in accounting records to force the books to balance when they don't add up, for example when:

    1. an operation is negligent in tracking down and fixing imbalances in their accounts;
    2. money and assets are missing, stolen or being spent in violation of the law;
    3. government securities and guarantees are being issued fraudulently or secretly.

In other words, an "unsupported adjustment" is a plug figure for cash and assets that are unaccounted for and/or disbursed unlawfully, with no supporting records or audit trail.
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  1. What is wrong with "unsupported adjustments"?
  2. Trillions of dollars in "unsupported adjustments" is literally trillions of dollars in public funds, assets, or guarantees missing, misplaced, or stolen from the government without a trace. Whether the US Treasury or the bank where you keep your savings – it is unethical and criminal for any institution entrusted with our money to lose track of it with no meaningful effort to clean up their act and get our money back.
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  1. What happens when a company fails an audit?
  2. When a company fails an audit, we stop investing our money in it and at some point, if it continues, we stop buying its products and services.
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  1. What happens when a taxpayer fails an IRS audit?
  2. The government makes sure it gets complete information about the taxpayer's money, and then it makes sure it gets the money – if need be it simply steps in and takes the money by attaching salaries or seizing assets. And, the taxpayer may be indicted, prosecuted and imprisoned. But is the IRS internal financial management team held to the same level of scrutiny when the IRS is audited?
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  1. Why is the US government not held to the same standard?
  2. The US government is required by law to conform to the same standard, but this is not taken seriously. We continue as if nothing is wrong, buying government securities, paying our taxes, and using US currency. We continue to reelect representatives who take no action to enforce the law in the government agencies or the US Treasury, and who continue to appropriate funds to those agencies. The bureaucrats who run these systems continue to get their salaries and cash bonuses. The contractors running their faulty accounting and computer systems continue to get paid hundreds of millions of dollars, and continue to get new contracts. And their investors continue to make money on their stocks. Hence, everyone involved keeps getting their paycheck, their cash bonuses, their stock options and stock profits.
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  1. Who is responsible?
  2. Under the US Constitution, we are responsible. We elect representatives and it is our job to hold them responsible and accountable. We pay taxes and it is our job to find enforcement mechanisms if our tax money is being used improperly or illegally. We have allowed our top government officials to pass the buck or turn a blind eye. And we have let the bad guys keep all the accumulated loot and power that belongs to us, the people.
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  1. Why zero in on DoD, HUD, and Treasury ... what about the others?
  2. This is simply where our research began. Send resources, and we will keep going! We do know that 20 federal agencies have been cited for seriously unreliable financial systems, and given the breakdown in checks and balances throughout Congress, Treasury, Justice, and the oval office, we suspect this might be government-wide.
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  1. Is this figure the total to-date, or all from the one year reported?
  2. We have so far documented $3.3 trillion missing at DOD and HUD....and counting.
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  1. Why assume it's stolen ... couldn't this be legitimate accounting errors?
  2. For accounting errors to be legitimate, they must be subject to a materiality standard -- a standard rule of thumb dictating whether errors are immaterial (acceptable) or material (unacceptable). A standard of 1-3% of an operation's budget could be argued as immaterial. Hard to say that about adjustments that are greater than 100% of the annual budget! And in any case no amount is "immaterial" to the people and living things that are suffering due to lack of funds for important federal programs.
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  1. How can we be missing more than the total budget?
  2. This can happen when a federal government is experiencing the financial equivalent of a coup d'etat. Our number one favorite to win is federal credit fraud -- government insiders issuing securities or guarantees privately or fraudulently -- combined with central bank complicity in printing currency and manipulating the gold market. Stealing inventory to sell, such as tanks, jeeps, and weaponry, is also a good bet. Federal credit and inventory are physical assets that are separate from the budget, and are generally much larger than the annual budget.
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  1. Why get alarmed now ... hasn't this been going on for ages?
  2. When financial corruption grows into financial coup d'etat, there is a reason to get alarmed. The house is burning down. The financial pressure to abrogate social and political commitments increases and the result can be a breakdown of infrastructure or violence.
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  1. There are big problems everywhere I turn … why focus on this one?
  2. If all of your retirement savings and financial safety net can be stolen, then you and your family are not safe.
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  1. What does this have to do with me and my family?
  2. The amount missing is staggering, and the implications are staggering. Trillions of dollars missing from the US government is draining our family and community resources like a hole in the milk bucket, where no one is stopping to fix the hole, we just keep filling it up with more tax dollars, and the bad guys get to keep reaping the benefits. This is syphoning funds from much needed programs and services, jacking up the deficit, stiffing the average citizen with making up the difference (including hidden costs), and putting our families and communities at risk, especially vulnerable to predatory corporate interests.
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  1. How can we stop it?
  2. By illuminating "how the money works" and then reversing the flow.
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  1. Can we get the money back?
  2. Yes, of course. We can and we must get the money back. The primary thing stopping us is the belief that we can not get it back.
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